Is my casino shuffling?

#1
Hi all.

After having practiced counting for some time, I wanted to go put my skills to the test. Too my surprise, at the casino, I saw the dealer deal a couple of hands and then placed them all back in to a machine that just swallows the cards. I'm assuming the cards are being shuffled - but does this mean I can give up any hope of counting cards?

Thanks in advance.
 

HockeXpert

Well-Known Member
#2
nathanbrooks said:
Hi all.

After having practiced counting for some time, I wanted to go put my skills to the test. Too my surprise, at the casino, I saw the dealer deal a couple of hands and then placed them all back in to a machine that just swallows the cards. I'm assuming the cards are being shuffled - but does this mean I can give up any hope of counting cards?

Thanks in advance.
That machine is a continuous shuffle machine. Look for tables that DON'T have those shuffle machines.
 

ycming

Well-Known Member
#4
"put my skills to the test" .. don't think you are ready ... if you actually counted a CSM.

ASM, after 4/6/8 decks been played. They ALL get put back into the machine for shuffling. - Countable

CSM, cards continuously gets put back into the machine during play. - Not Countable
 
#5
If they aren't putting them in the CSM after each round, they are counting the face cards and eeking out a tiny fraction of an extra edge by returning low card rounds but not high card rounds for a few rounds.
 
#7
nathanbrooks said:
So basically what you guys are saying is that they definitely using cms's and not asm's?
Yep. ASM the cards accumulate in the discard area until the shuffle card is reached (4 to 7 decks dealt on 6 to 8 deck shoes). CSM they should go into the machine at the end of each hand.
 

Sucker

Well-Known Member
#9
nathanbrooks said:
I saw the dealer deal a couple of hands and then placed them all back in to a machine that just swallows the cards.
nathanbrooks said:
Such a pitty I'll have to give up on card counting as its the only casino in my area.
Get a good enough look at that CSM machine so that you can recognize it as such. Then look around your casino at all of the tables in the place to see if ALL the tables have that same type of machine. Don't forget to check the high limit pit. The monthly rental on these machines is huge. Not every place that has them, has them on ALL their tables, as many of the tables sit idle during the week and are only open on weekends.
 

Sucker

Well-Known Member
#10
tthree said:
CSM they should go into the machine at the end of each hand.
House policy in some places requires the dealer to recycle the cards after 2 or 3 hands have been played; sometimes as many as 4-5 hands.

There have been several threads on this subject, as to whether or not the machines can be counted when they do this. The general consensus is that yes; you technically COULD back-count these games, but it would amount to little more than wasting your time; you'd be standing around 97% of the time, and the other 3% you would never find anything larger than a TINY advantage.

This is NOT to suggest to Nathan that he try this at his home casino; other than for the purpose of PRACTICE only.
 
#19
Ohhh. Not that I have anything to worry about as I checked my casino again, and every single blackjack table has a CSM. So my counting days are officially over before they even began.

Thanks for all the advice though!
 
#20
nathanbrooks said:
Ohhh. Not that I have anything to worry about as I checked my casino again, and every single blackjack table has a CSM. So my counting days are officially over before they even began.

Thanks for all the advice though!
There is more than 1 casino in the world.
 
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